arubenstein Posted February 12, 2012 Report Share Posted February 12, 2012 Hello, Just returned from an AWESOME trip, one of the better ones I've had in a while. Not a lot of miles, but GREAT conditions. Mon 2/6 - Drive up - Left NJ about noon time with three others. None of them had ridden in Quebec as of yet. Other truck blew a turbo hose (busted clamp on the pressure side), was able to source one from a NY Thruway Maintenance garage and continue up and back down with no issue. Arrived at Hotel Roquemont about 8pm. There were about 10 sleds there. Tue 2/7 - St-Raymond, L'Etape, Lan-Keogami, Jonquiere, Chicoutimi - TQ-23, TQ-83 - Headed out of St-Raymond, into the Park. Stopped at L'Etape for gas and lunch. There had to be 50 sleds at the Chicken place there. Continued up. TQ-23 was excellent, 9/10. TQ-83 varied, and got considerably worse through Jonquiere. We were going to stay at the HI/HS, but there were booked up. Instead, we stayed at the Hotel Sagueneene. It is a very nice place, good food, but I have no idea how you would find this place if you didn't have a GPS. Wed 2/8 - Chicoutimi, Mt-Valin - TQ-83, 367, TQ-93, Local-134, 328, Local-476, Zec-Onatchiway Private, Unmapped, Local-477, Local-267, TQ-93 - Wow. Getting out of Chicoutimi and Jonquiere, and over the river was the usual pain. TQ-83, 367, and TQ-93 near Saint-Ambroise were pretty bad. Looks like they hadn't been groomed in some time. As we got towards 328, etc., the trails got to be much better. Frankly, and trail within about 20 m iles of Jonquiere in any direction has been bad conditions for me for both trips I have been on in the last couple weeks. As we got to Onatchiway, the trails got really good. Had lunch up there, and after talking to the owner (Daniel I believe) and getting past our language barrier, we made the decision to pay the $25 per sled and use the private trails up, and the semi-private trail down. The 'semi-private' trail is not in the Zec, so you don't have to pay for it. However, it is not part of the FCMQ system. I am not sure who maintains it. However, these two trails, which resulted in a 84 mile round-trip, was probably some of the best sledding I have ever done in a long time. Perfectly groomed, zero traffic, and excellent trails. They were wide, gently-rolling, and fast, with great scenery. This is easily a "must-do" for anyone who like Mt. Valin. The loop took us about 2h 10m, and was 84.8 miles. You need to pay $25/sled to go into the Zec, which you pay at the gate about 300 feet north of the relais. I have GPS tracks should anyone want them. When we got back to the Relais, we had soup and made our way to KM-31 where we stayed for the night, via Local-477, Local-267 (Bras Louis), and TQ-93. These trails were excellent as well, with very minor chop on TQ-93. It seems that they lost the top of the tree next to the gas pump at KM-31. This is the private trail, about 2 miles north of the gate into Zec Onatchiway: Thu 2/9 - Mt-Valin, Tadoussac, Ferry, La-Malbaie - TQ-93, TQ-3, 378 - As we went east, the trails were pretty good. Then we hit a pretty rough spot for a few miles, about 10 or 15 miles from LM-31. Then it got better all the way to the ferry, but it appears it hadn't been groomed in some time. Crossed the ferry, which is always fun, and made our way to the Le Manoir Richelieu. We pulled in the garage and there were probably 50 sleds there, I had never seen that many. Overall, a pretty good day with very little traffic. View from KM-31 on this day: TQ-93 near Sacre-Coeur: TQ-3 over the ferry: Fri 2/10 - La-Malbaie, Quebec City, St-Raymond - TQ-3, TQ-23 - A pretty good day of trails, but unbelievable traffic. We probably passed 100 sleds and 25 ATV's. This one club which has a Relay, Club d'Auto-Neige Le Sapin d'Or, seems to not have groomed any trail all season. Both clubs on either side of them have good trails, but these guys had terrible trails with ruts, chop, etc. There was no evidence of recent groomed, but plenty of snow. We got to the truck, and found there was some sort of gathering of antique Bombardier snow machines. A really cool thing to see. Leaving the castle: The old Bombarbiers: All in all, a really good trip. 80% of the trails were 8/10 or better. 738 miles over four days of riding. I was in my bed in NJ at 2:15 am Sat morning. Again, if anyone needs any GPS tracks of anything above, let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazysnow Posted February 12, 2012 Report Share Posted February 12, 2012 1329016027[/url]' post='21455']Hello, Just returned from an AWESOME trip, one of the better ones I've had in a while. Not a lot of miles, but GREAT conditions. Mon 2/6 - Drive up - Left NJ about noon time with three others. None of them had ridden in Quebec as of yet. Other truck blew a turbo hose (busted clamp on the pressure side), was able to source one from a NY Thruway Maintenance garage and continue up and back down with no issue. Arrived at Hotel Roquemont about 8pm. There were about 10 sleds there. Tue 2/7 - St-Raymond, L'Etape, Lan-Keogami, Jonquiere, Chicoutimi - TQ-23, TQ-83 - Headed out of St-Raymond, into the Park. Stopped at L'Etape for gas and lunch. There had to be 50 sleds at the Chicken place there. Continued up. TQ-23 was excellent, 9/10. TQ-83 varied, and got considerably worse through Jonquiere. We were going to stay at the HI/HS, but there were booked up. Instead, we stayed at the Hotel Sagueneene. It is a very nice place, good food, but I have no idea how you would find this place if you didn't have a GPS. Wed 2/8 - Chicoutimi, Mt-Valin - TQ-83, 367, TQ-93, Local-134, 328, Local-476, Zec-Onatchiway Private, Unmapped, Local-477, Local-267, TQ-93 - Wow. Getting out of Chicoutimi and Jonquiere, and over the river was the usual pain. TQ-83, 367, and TQ-93 near Saint-Ambroise were pretty bad. Looks like they hadn't been groomed in some time. As we got towards 328, etc., the trails got to be much better. Frankly, and trail within about 20 m iles of Jonquiere in any direction has been bad conditions for me for both trips I have been on in the last couple weeks. As we got to Onatchiway, the trails got really good. Had lunch up there, and after talking to the owner (Daniel I believe) and getting past our language barrier, we made the decision to pay the $25 per sled and use the private trails up, and the semi-private trail down. The 'semi-private' trail is not in the Zec, so you don't have to pay for it. However, it is not part of the FCMQ system. I am not sure who maintains it. However, these two trails, which resulted in a 84 mile round-trip, was probably some of the best sledding I have ever done in a long time. Perfectly groomed, zero traffic, and excellent trails. They were wide, gently-rolling, and fast, with great scenery. This is easily a "must-do" for anyone who like Mt. Valin. The loop took us about 2h 10m, and was 84.8 miles. You need to pay $25/sled to go into the Zec, which you pay at the gate about 300 feet north of the relais. I have GPS tracks should anyone want them. When we got back to the Relais, we had soup and made our way to KM-31 where we stayed for the night, via Local-477, Local-267 (Bras Louis), and TQ-93. These trails were excellent as well, with very minor chop on TQ-93. It seems that they lost the top of the tree next to the gas pump at KM-31. This is the private trail, about 2 miles north of the gate into Zec Onatchiway: Thu 2/9 - Mt-Valin, Tadoussac, Ferry, La-Malbaie - TQ-93, TQ-3, 378 - As we went east, the trails were pretty good. Then we hit a pretty rough spot for a few miles, about 10 or 15 miles from LM-31. Then it got better all the way to the ferry, but it appears it hadn't been groomed in some time. Crossed the ferry, which is always fun, and made our way to the Le Manoir Richelieu. We pulled in the garage and there were probably 50 sleds there, I had never seen that many. Overall, a pretty good day with very little traffic. View from KM-31 on this day: TQ-93 near Sacre-Coeur: TQ-3 over the ferry: Fri 2/10 - La-Malbaie, Quebec City, St-Raymond - TQ-3, TQ-23 - A pretty good day of trails, but unbelievable traffic. We probably passed 100 sleds and 25 ATV's. This one club which has a Relay, Club d'Auto-Neige Le Sapin d'Or, seems to not have groomed any trail all season. Both clubs on either side of them have good trails, but these guys had terrible trails with ruts, chop, etc. There was no evidence of recent groomed, but plenty of snow. We got to the truck, and found there was some sort of gathering of antique Bombardier snow machines. A really cool thing to see. Leaving the castle: The old Bombarbiers: All in all, a really good trip. 80% of the trails were 8/10 or better. 738 miles over four days of riding. I was in my bed in NJ at 2:15 am Sat morning. Again, if anyone needs any GPS tracks of anything above, let me know. Hi arubenstein, Nice report and pics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindasledgirl Posted February 16, 2012 Report Share Posted February 16, 2012 Wow! Looks like a great time! Thanks for the pictures and report. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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